Amazon adds tunes; smartphone is next

By RYAN NAKASHIMA
the associated press

Published: June 12, 2014;Last modified: June 12, 2014 06:48PM

LOS ANGELES — Amazon’s newly announced music streaming service is yet another attempt by the company to move beyond e-commerce and infuse itself into the daily lives of Americans with an increasing number of offerings, including grocery delivery and streaming TV.

In this handout photo released by Amazon Music shows Amazon new music streaming service for its Prime members, adding yet another freebie to the free-shipping plan ahead of the expected unveiling of its first smartphone next week. Starting Thursday, June 12, 2014, Amazon.com Inc. will offer more than a million tracks for streaming and downloading to its own Kindle Fire tablets as well as on its Amazon Music app for Apple and Android devices. People that pay $99-a-year for Prime can use the music for no extra cost. Amazon reached licensing deals with most of the top independent labels and major recording companies Sony and Warner Music, but failed to reach a deal with top-ranked Universal Music Group. (AP Photo/Amazon Music)

The announcement Thursday came just days ahead of the expected unveiling of the company’s first smartphone.

Amazon.com Inc. is offering more than a million tracks for ad-free streaming and download to Kindle Fire tablets as well as to computers and the Amazon Music app for Apple and Android devices. The service, called Prime Music, is likely to be integrated with an Amazon smartphone expected to be previewed on Wednesday.

People who pay $99 a year for an Amazon Prime membership can listen to tens of thousands of albums from artists including Beyonce, The Lumineers and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis for no extra cost. By adding music, Amazon is hoping to hook new customers and retain existing ones on its Prime free-shipping plan, which also allows subscribers to watch streams of movies and TV shows and gives Kindle owners a library of books they can borrow once a month.

But the service has fewer songs than services like Spotify or Pandora.

Steve Boom, Amazon’s vice president of digital music, said the service will pay for itself and isn’t part of the reason why the company raised the price of Prime from $79 in March, a move Amazon said would cover higher shipping costs. Instead, the company will benefit because Prime members are loyal customers and tend to buy Amazon products when available, he said.